Remember Me
by Nuit Songeur
Summary: The gang's adventures are finally all over. Ryou comes home, expecting nothing but the quiet aspects of a normal life. But someone is waiting for him. How can Ryou adjust to a normal life with this unexpected surprise? Warning: Shounen ai.
1. Unexpected Guest

Greetings to all my readers! I've been wanting to write a RxB Fanfic for some time now and, here it is! I hope you like it!

**Disclaimer:** Yugioh is not mine.

**Warnings:** Suggestive themes with sexual intercourse and yaoi play. And slight vulgar use of the virgin Mary's name. And I'll edit it for mistakes in the near furture.

**Note:** _//Bakura through mind link//_

* * *

Ryou slowly trudged upstairs to his room, exhaustion and fatigue making his limbs cumbersome to move. He and his friends had just got back from Egypt. Yami, or Atem was his name, had lost his duel with Yugi and was sent back to his own world. And all the Millennium items, including his own Millennium ring, were destroyed.

"It's over," he mumbled to himself. "It's all over." Indeed, it was all over from Duelist Kingdom, to Battle City, to the whole soul-stealing Orichalcos mess, and finally to the Pharaoh's memories. He and the others had been through a lot but now he was just glad their adventure had ended.

And, to Ryou's relief, the evil spirit of the ring or whatever was finally gone, all gone. Ryou finally had complete control over his body and there was no longer the feeling of the threat of his consciousness being smothered anymore. He was free, completely and finally free to do whatever he wanted.

And right now all he wanted was to sleep…

Their flight had just gotten in forty-five minutes ago. It took fifteen minutes for everyone to say goodbye to each other (and to get Téa to stop crying) and thirty minutes for the taxi cab to reach his house. The house, though, was still completely empty; Ryou's father still away at Egypt for an archaeological dig. How ironic that Ryou never came into contact with him while he was there.

Finally, Ryou had reached the door that led to his bedroom. It took a moment for his heavy eyelids to stay open long enough for him to find the doorknob…

But he did and he twisted the knob, opening the door. He then stepped into the dark room and reached his arm out to flip the light switch on. As soon as he did, he heard a voice speak from the corner of the room.

"About time you got here..." That voice! That awfully familiar voice! The one that had plagued his mind for so long. Suddenly, Ryou's eyelids didn't feel as heavy anymore as they flew open to see the tomb robber leaning against the opposite wall of his bedroom.

"You?!" Ryou exclaimed feebly. "I thought you were dead!" Bakura frowned.

"Dead? Not likely, hikari." He shrugged himself off of the wall and stepped toward Ryou. Ryou, however, took a step back.

"W-w-what are you doing here? What do you want?" Bakura stopped.

"Me? I don't want anything."

"Not even take over the world?" Ryou demanded. Bakura scoffed.

"That purpose is gone now."

"Then why are you here?" Bakura shrugged, looking absolutely bored.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Bakura began walking toward him again.

"Stay away from me!" Ryou shouted, his voice going up a few octaves. Bakura sighed.

"Just relax, Ryou. I'm not going to hurt you." As if to prove this, Bakura hopped onto Ryou's bed, picked up the nearby remote control, and turned the television set on. Ryou stared at him as he idly browsed through channels.

"Hey! Who said you could get on _my_ bed and watch _my_ TV?" Ryou demanded but then suddenly closed his mouth for fear of Bakura doing something dreadful to him.

But to his surprise, Bakura simply shrugged again and, keeping his eyes on the screen, asked, "Is there anything else to do around here?" Ryou didn't answer him but stared at him for a moment.

_Maybe he's not here to hurt me_, Ryou though5. Thinking quickly, Ryou grabbed the phone beside his alarm clock and dialed Yugi's number while bounding down the stairs. It rang three times before Yugi answered it.

"Hello? Game shop," came Yugi's cheery voice. But there was a slight edge to it. However, Ryou was too worried to notice.

"Yugi? It's me, Ryou."

"Hello Ryou. What's up?"

"I have a slight problem-"

_//Why are you all the way down there? I can hear what you're saying anyway, // _interrupted a voice from inside Ryou's head, Bakura's voice. Ryou gave such a start of surprise that he dropped the phone.

"Holy mother of Jesus Christ!" Ryou exclaimed suddenly. He bent down to pick up the fallen phone and darted up the stairs and back toward his bedroom. But Bakura was just sitting there as he had before. Not even moved an inch.

"How did you do that?" Ryou snapped. Bakura turned his head slightly to look at him.

"Do what?"

"Speak inside my head." Bakura shrugged. Ryou had just about enough with all his shrugging.

"It's called a mind link. All the yamis and hikaris can talk to each other telepathically.

"That's insane!" Ryou accused, his face growing wild with fear. Bakura shrugged yet again before turning back to the TV.

"Just ask your friend, Yugi." Upon the mentioning of his friend, Ryou remembered the phone in his hand and put it up to his ear, turning his back to Bakura.

"Ryou, Ryou? Are you there? Who are you talking to? Is everything all right? Ryou?"

"Sorry Yugi but I was interrupted," Ryou apologized.

"By who? Your dad isn't back from Egypt, is he?"

"No, no. _He's_ not but Bakura is." Yugi paused momentarily.

"What do you mean? He's not controlling your mind again, is he?" Yugi asked, terrified.

"No, he's-" But Ryou stopped himself and turned around to gape at the spirit disbelievingly. Ryou had been about to say "he's sitting on my bed." But that wouldn't have made much sense because he was a spirit. And a spirit wouldn't be able to sit on a bed tangibly, much less pick up his remote control.

So he wasn't a spirit anymore…

"Ryou? He's what?" But Ryou didn't respond to Yugi. Instead, he jabbed a finger toward Bakura.

"You have a body!" he exclaimed. The corner of Bakura's mouth twitched upward into a small smirk.

_//You're catching on, //_ his thoughts sneered. Ryou shivered at the mental contact.

"He has a body?" Yugi gasped.

"Yes!" Ryou said breathlessly into the phone, his words coming in a rush. "He's sitting on my bed and watching TV. When I got home he was just standing in my room, as if he were waiting for me."

_//I have been waiting for you. //_ Ryou ignore him.

"Isn't he supposed to be gone from our lives, like Yami?" Ryou asked. Yugi seemed to hesitate.

"Well, Ryou, you're not going to believe this but when _I_ got home, Yami was there waiting for me as well." Ryou's eyes widened, his mouth hanging open in stunned gape.

"But wasn't he supposed to go back to his own world or something?"

"I guess but I'm not sure-" Yugi paused for a moment. "Hang on Ryou, Yami wants to talk to you." There was a muffled shuffling and after a moment later, Yugi's darker half spoke.

"Hello, Ryou?" came the deeper, more masculine voice.

"Yes? What is it Yami?"

"You said that Bakura was there, in his own body?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" Ryou sighed, his exhaustion coming back to him.

"Unless I'm going crazy. Hang on a second." Ryou lowered the phone away from his ear and slowly began advancing toward Bakura, a determined expression plastered on his angelic face. It took all but a few moments for Bakura to realize Ryou wasn't speaking on the phone anymore as he slowly drilled his attention away from the mesmerizing screen and onto his hikari that was getting closer and closer.

"Ryou," he said in a low warning tone, shying away from him. Ryou continued toward him however and, with a sudden thrust, Ryou jabbed his index finger just below Bakura's shoulder and, just as quickly, jumped back away from the yami. Bakura blinked and his shocked face settled into a scowling expression.

"Did you just _poke_ me, Ryou?" he demanded. Ryou turned away from him and put the phone back to his ear. "Hey! I just asked you a question-"

"Yeah, he has a physical body," Ryou said to Yami.

"Of course I have a physical body, you complete moron!" Ryou continued to ignore him.

"Hmm…" came Yami's contemplative reply.

"And you have a physical body as well?" Ryou asked.

"Who are you talking to? That washed-up has-been, the pharaoh?" Bakura continued to rant.

"Correct," Yami said, replying to Ryou's question. "But I can't make heads or tails of it. The only thing I can figure is that Bakura and I were given a second chance to live as mortals. I wonder if Marik is the same way…" Yami's voice trailed off in thought.

"So what? Does that mean I'm stuck with Bakura for the rest of my life? My dad is still in Egypt, I don't think he would be too happy to find out that my evil counterpart is living with us, once he gets back that is."

"Don't worry, Ryou, we'll figure out something but now he'll have to stay with you until we do. Call us if he does anything… not nice." Ryou sighed.

"Okay Yami. See you around I guess."

"Bye, Ryou."

"Bye," he mumbled before issuing a loud yawn and turning off the phone. After he did so, he turned back to Bakura who was glaring at him contemptuously.

"Well, I am offended," he scoffed. Ryou ignored the statement.

"It looks like you're going to be staying here for a while." Bakura sniffed. "So if you're going to stay here, we're going to set some ground rules-"

"Rules were made to be broken," he said quietly. Ryou's fatigue made his temper flare.

"Well if you don't like it, then you can leave and find somewhere else to stay!" Ryou snapped.

"Looks like someone's not in a good mood," Bakura speculated with a frown. Ryou ran his fingers through his long, white hair.

"Look, I'm sorry. I'm just tired is all. So do you want to stay or not?" Bakura contemplated him for a moment and as he did so, Ryou caught a flicker in his eyes. Of course he would stay, he had no where else to go, that much Ryou knew of.

How ironic that with all the trouble Bakura had caused him, Ryou was worried about having hurt Bakura's feelings. Well, Ryou did admit, if you got past the Bakura wanting to take over the world part, Bakura was really like a kitty. A fat, spoiled, sensitive kitty. (Though, Bakura wasn't really fat- the exact opposite actually.)

"I guess I could stay," Bakura finally said at length.

"Okay then. I'll just have to find a place where you can sleep-"

"What's wrong with here?" Bakura suddenly outburst, gesturing toward the bed.

"Bakura, that's _my_ bed."

"We could share it," Bakura said with an evil grin. Ryou's mouth fell open, cheeks turning a bright red. Surely he had just misheard what Bakura had just said…

"What's the matter, Ryou?" he asked, still smirking. "Afraid I might bite?" He made a chomping noise with his teeth. Ryou's cheeks' color transformation continued to a deep scarlet.

"Uhh… no… t-that's okay. I'll just s-s-sleep on the floor," he stammered in a small whisper. In a daze, he walked to his closet and began rummaging through it for an extra blanket. He finally found one crammed on the top shelf. After he managed to free it from within the depths of the closet, he walked up to the television set and with a small press of a button, it clicked off. When Ryou turned around, he was met with a scowl from Bakura.

"I was watching that," he grumbled. Ryou tried to muster a very stern and parental expression onto his features.

"It's bedtime, Bakura, and that means we go to sleep now. Okay?" Bakura sighed impatiently.

"Fine, whatever," he mumbled, throwing the remote on the floor, causing the batteries to pop out of it.

"Bakura! Pick that up! We do not throw things around here." Bakura's mouth slipped into a frown, his eyes still glaring.

"Make me," he said before flopping himself down on the bed, face-down. Ryou sighed, becoming more light-headed by his fatigue. He stared at the dismembered remote with a blank face for a moment before deciding that it wasn't worth the energy; he could put it away tomorrow.

With a final sigh, he went over to the light switch and flipped it down, causing the lights to extinguish. Then he picked out the corner furthest away from Bakura and settled down into it, covering himself with the old blanket he had found and resting his weary head on his arm. He blinked, realizing that his eyelids were once again very heavy and difficult to keep open. Gratefully, he closed them and the buzz of his mind was clouded with a shroud of lethargy…

Then suddenly, Bakura groaned. Quite loudly. Ryou's eyes flew open, annoyed at the disruption.

"Bakura, go to sleep," Ryou said in a thick, almost incomprehensible voice. Before Ryou heard Bakura's grumbled response, he had already and finally nodded off to sleep.

**-0-0-0-**

"Ryou," said a distant, faraway voice, practically indistinguishable. Ryou uttered a soft moan. In its own way, the moan was supposed to say: "Go away and let me sleep."

"Ryou! Wake up!" said the voice, louder and more impatient. Ryou squeezed his eyes, recognizing the voice as Bakura's. No surprise there…

"Go to sleep, Bakura," Ryou mumbled, rolling over to his other side, turning his back to the voice of Bakura. Ryou's shoulder was slightly shaken by a tentative hand.

"Ryou, get up!" Bakura hissed. "I have a problem…" Ryou sighed and reluctantly rolled over and opened his eyes to face Bakura.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I can't go to sleep," Bakura said. Ryou sat up, propping himself on an elbow.

"Why not?" he asked, perplexed. Bakura seemed to grow annoyed.

"I don't know why- I haven't been mortal before," he snapped. "My stomach is making these weird noises and it feels strangely empty somehow. And I can't go to sleep because of it." Ryou blinked.

Bakura hadn't been mortal before, hadn't needed to tend to the needs of a physical body. His stomach was bothering him so Ryou could only guess that Bakura was hungry.

"You're probably hungry, Bakura." Bakura blinked as well.

"Hungry?" Ryou sighed again and clumsily got to his feet.

"Come on, let's see if there's anything to eat in the kitchen." Ryou stumbled his way blindly through the darkness of the room and made his way out into the equally dark hallway. Ryou patted his feet lightly in front of him, testing each step. After a minute of searching, Ryou found the top of the stairwell. He heard soft footsteps behind him after he had slowly and carefully descended from the topmost step, hand firmly grasping the railing.

"Ryou, I can't see a thing," complained Bakura's voice from behind him. Suddenly, Ryou felt the shape of Bakura bumping into his back. With a muted _oof_, Ryou momentarily lost his balance and tripped down the next two stairs. He managed to catch himself by grabbing the banister again.

"Bakura!" Ryou said sharply. "Watch where you're going! I could have fell and injured myself!" There was a huff of impatience from behind.

"_Watch where I'm going?_ Now how, pray tell, am I supposed to do that if I can't see a thing?"

"Just…I don't know, be more careful!" Bakura continued to grumble inaudibly behind him as Ryou continued his way down the stairs. About what seemed like halfway down, Bakura spoke again, still close behind.

"How come you didn't just turn on the light?" At that, Ryou felt as though he could have slapped himself for his own stupidity but still defended his own pride.

"Well I'm so sorry. I'm half dead from sleep and you expect me to remember these things! Why couldn't _you_ turn on the light, Einstein?" Ryou managed down three more steps before Bakura replied.

"I don't know who Einstein is," he mumbled.

"Never mind, it's just an analogy. Look, I think we made it down finally." Ryou extended his foot out, expecting the ground floor but only coming across thin air. Ryou drew back his foot. Okay, he was mistaken, so they still had a few more steps to go. He reached down to another step-

_//I thought you had made it all the way down,//_ Bakura thought smugly. The mind link contact made Ryou jump, much like his first encounter with it, so he tripped down the last few steps and fell flat on his face. He could hear Bakura laughing above him.

"That wasn't funny," Ryou said through clenched teeth as he sat up and got to his feet. He went through the open living room doorway and was in the kitchen.

He turned on the nearby light, illuminating the dark room. Blinking from the bright light, Ryou walked over to the fridge and opened it. Rubbing his eyes and stifling a large yawn, Ryou peered into it.

"What would you like to eat, Bakura?" Ryou asked. Bakura appeared silently beside him. Bakura had eaten before, Ryou knew he had. When Bakura had taken control of his body before, he had to eat so eating shouldn't pose much of a problem.

Bakura gazed into the cold contents of the refrigerator with a silent boredom.

"I don't suppose you have the living souls of the tormented, do you?" Ryou's face paled as Bakura turned to smile at him, playfully. However, his smile disappeared after seeing Ryou's expression.

"Only joking, Ryou. Don't worry. Hmm…I'll just take strawberry yogurt." He reached in and took a serving-sized cup of yogurt and went over to the kitchen table. Ryou was about to protest- yogurt was his favorite and he didn't want Bakura to eat it all- but decided against it, figuring it would be better just to make Bakura happy. Ryou closed the fridge and went to retrieve a spoon from one of the drawers. He handed the spoon to Bakura who took it and studied the piece of metal curiously.

"I'm going back to bed," Ryou told him slowly. "Please don't make a mess of everything and put everything away when you go to bed. Okay?" Bakura shrugged, opening the yogurt innocently.

"Fine, whatever." Ryou watched him a moment as he took the first few bites before turning his back on him to go back to his room.

_Maybe he is harmless,_ Ryou thought resolutely as he went upstairs, the light from the kitchen guiding his way. _And maybe it wasn't a good idea to leave him alone either, _Ryou nagged to himself. However, as Ryou settled down into his corner, he realized that, for the moment, he was too tired to care and would worry about what Bakura would do until the morning.

* * *

Well, there it is. I had a lot of fun with this! (And there's no OC!) I really like this and I know where I want to take it! But who knows where it might lead.... Expect it to be updated!

Please review.

**_-Nuit Songeur_**


	2. Headache Excursions

Okay, the second chapter! Sorry it took so long.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or General Mills cereals.

Warnings: Homosexual references. Please remember, this IS Yaoi and if you don't like it then don't read. But at the moment, it's just slow build-up.

* * *

Ryou awoke with a stiff back and a pounding headache. He pried open a single eye to see the gray morning light filtering in from his bedroom window. He slowly sat up, blinking away the sleep from his eyes. With a soundless yawn, he stretched his arms out, his back arching until he heard a satisfying pop.

He lowered his arms and turned to look past the silently snoring Bakura on the bed to read the alarm clock.

6:02

Six-oh-two? Ryou suppressed a miserable groan. That meant he had less than six hours of sleep last night because he had gotten in around midnight. He _could_ try and go back to sleep but Ryou knew that would be a futile attempt; his morning headache wouldn't allow him any peace of mind. Cursing his innate ability to wake up early in the morning, Ryou managed to slowly get on his feet and quietly tip-toe past Bakura's slumbering form to go out into the hallway.

His cold feet dragged him down the hall and into the bathroom where Ryou suddenly found himself staring at his bleary-eyed reflection in the mirror. His face was its usual pale, the only exception being the slight red flush of his cheeks. His hair was a complete mess, sticking out in frenzied directions.

Ryou grasped the edge of the sink for support, his migraine pulsating painfully beneath his skull. He needed some aspirin...

Opening the medicine cabinet, Ryou's chocolate brown eyes searched the shelves' contents until at last they fell on the generic white bottle of medicine. He reached in, closed his fingers around the bottle, and took it out, the bottle rattling its purpose. After he unscrewed the lid, Ryou shook out two pills, small, round, red ones, and with an expertly quick flourish of his pale hand, swept them into his mouth and swallowed. They slid uncomfortably down his dry throat.

When Ryou had placed the bottle back to its stationary position in the medicine cabinet, Ryou made his way out of the bathroom, down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

He turned the light switch on and gingerly took a few steps. He vaguely remembered leaving Bakura alone in here last night so he could go back to bed. Now he was going to find out if that was a wise decision or not...

The kitchen table stood in the middle of the room innocently enough. Upon closer inspection, Ryou could not detect any messy splatters of pink, strawberry yogurt. So far so good...

Ryou turned his attention to the sink. Peering past the shiny, metallic-plated side, he saw a solitary spoon resting on the bottom. The dipper of the spoon was smudged with yogurt. Ryou felt as though he could laugh; he didn't really expect Bakura to be capable of putting away his own dishes.

With one last, swift gaze of the room, Ryou could conclude that Bakura had indeed done nothing bad to it and that there was nothing wrong with the room.

Ryou gave a weak smile to himself as he began searching through cabinets for a probable breakfast. What had he expected anyway? For Bakura to completely trash the kitchen? Surely he wasn't _that_ destructive. Besides, how much harm could he do with a single canister of yogurt and a spoon?

Ryou stopped that train of thought before he could visualize possible fantasies on what could go wrong with yogurt. It was Bakura after all...

After deciding he wasn't in any mood to cook, Ryou pulled out a box of one of his favorite cereals, Cocoa Puffs, and set it on the table. After retrieving a bowl, a clean spoon, and a carton of milk, he fixed himself a bowl of cereal and as he ate slowly and chewed thoughtfully, began to think. Always a dangerous task for him.

It seemed that Bakura would be staying with him, no matter what kind of plan Yami and Yugi came up with. Bakura was a person now, not some evil spirit trying to take over the world- as far as Ryou knew. But still, though it seemed irrational and illogical, Ryou trusted Bakura and that he wasn't there to harm him. It was odd and went beyond the normality of common sense but Ryou _trusted_ Bakura, to an extent of course.

And Ryou had a feeling that Bakura might actually need him. Maybe heds never admit to it, but Bakura definitely needed Ryou to be able to function this world, to know how it worked, and ultimately to survive.

_Yeah,_ Ryou scoffed, thinking,_ as if Bakura would be able to admit that he was dependent on another person._

Suddenly, Ryou remembered the mind link Bakura had mentioned and used last night. Because they were able to communicate telepathically, did that mean he could hear Bakura's thoughts as well, when he wasn't contacting him?

Chewing his lower lip, Ryou tried emptying his mind of all thoughts and tried listening for Bakura. There was nothing, not a sound. He was about to give up when he thought he heard a small, faint noise in the far recesses of his mind. It was so quiet a sound, he could have simply imagined it. In fact, he probably did. But all the same, Ryou only listened harder.

And then, he heard it again. So soft, he could have easily missed it.

It was snoring. Ryou blinked. Snoring? And then he remembered Bakura was still asleep upstairs. Ryou sighed; that made sense. And then he wondered if he would be able to hear Bakura's dreams or talk to him while he was still sleeping. But then, what if he happened to wake Bakura up? He was sure the old tomb robber wouldn't be too happy if he woke up this early.

_//No I wouldn't, //_ growled a grumpy voice. Ryou froze, wondering whether he should answer Bakura or not. Sensing the impatient pause from Bakura's end of the mind link, Ryou decided to.

_((Bakura?))_ Ryou called tentatively through their mental connection.

_//Of course it's me, you fool. Who else would it be? //_ Bakura snapped.

_((I'm sorry!))_ Ryou began in a flurry. _((I didn't mean to...I just...you see- ))_

There was a sigh from Bakura's end. Not an impatient one but more of a sigh that projected ancient experience. It was then that Ryou began to partially grasp Bakura's seldom maturity through his five-thousand plus years.

_//When you open your mind up, I can hear everything you're thinking, //_ he explained. Bakura's tone was extremely tolerant, almost patient. In a way, it was as though he reprimanded himself for not describing this earlier to Ryou.

_((I'm sorry,))_ Ryou repeated. Bakura seemed uncomfortable to replying to the apology.

_//I'm coming down, //_ he said instead. _//I hope you have more food because I'm hungry again.//_ And with that, he closed the mind link. Ryou drew himself away from it as well, secluding himself to the confines of his mind and returning back to the present. He looked down at his half-eaten bowl of cereal, hearing Bakura loudly lumbering down the stairs. Ryou held his breath as the sleepy-eyed tomb robber robotically made his way into the kitchen. His hair was also standing up in chaotic ways, more than usually, that is. The look seemed to suit him, almost invoking a feeling of desire and arousal in Ryou.

In response to that latest thought, Ryou could feel his face growing red hot with embarrassment. To his utter relief, Bakura seemed too tired to notice his blush. But then, a pang of panic shot through Ryou's veins as he remembered that Bakura could read his thoughts.

However, Bakura's expression remained unchanged as he sat opposite of Ryou at the table. Ryou had been so shocked by his initial feelings of Bakura's presence that he had all but forgotten the spoonful of cereal, halfway to his open mouth. Ryou remained frozen in this state for a few more moments while Bakura considered him for a second and smirked.

"What's wrong, Ryou?" he asked. "Cat got your tongue?" The expression was harmless enough but Ryou couldn't help but wonder at the fact that last night he had mentally compared Bakura to a kitten and it was now Bakura who was making him speechless. Ryou blinked away his stupor and, placing the spoon back into the bowl, stood up from the table, his chair scraping across the floor.

"Would you like cereal for breakfast Bakura?" Ryou asked, gesturing toward his own bowl of Cocoa Puffs for an example. Bakura glanced at the bowl with a bored expression.

"Sure, why not?" he said dismissively, turning away from the bowl and Ryou to stare dejectedly into space. Ryou went to retrieve another spoon and bowl along with the carton of milk from the fridge. He set the bowl and spoon in front of Bakura, placed the milk beside it, and pushed the box of Cocoa Puffs toward him. Bakura began to absently fix his breakfast.

Ryou watched him as he sat back down in his own chair. While Bakura was distracted for the moment with the cereal, Ryou closed his side of the mind link, hiding his thoughts from his other half.

Ryou didn't eat another bite of cereal as he began to think, his unfocused eyes fixed on Bakura.

Desire and arousal. That was what he had felt when he saw Bakura's form in the doorway of the kitchen. He wondered, as he watched Bakura now with unseeing eyes, where those feelings had come from.

Ryou was a guy and Bakura was guy, obviously. For Ryou to be attracted to another guy would make him _gay_. Ryou blinked at the word. _Was_ he gay? Sure the last girlfriend he had was in day care when he was five years old but still... Was it even possible for him to be gay? Just because Bakura had shared his body for the past four years didn't make him lust after the general male population!

And then Ryou remembered Bakura's teasing comment from last night. _We could share it,_ Bakura had said, referring to the bed. Ryou's face had turned bright red at the statement. Then, Ryou didn't think he had meant anything by it except to be annoying and to get his own way. But now that Ryou thought about it, could it mean that Bakura was gay as well?

No, not "as well." That implied that Ryou was gay and Ryou was still unsure at the moment of his sexuality.

Bakura chomped away at his cereal not bothering to silence the loud and rude noises he was making. After a few minutes of eating, he seemed to notice Ryou's unwavering gaze on him. Bakura frowned and swallowed his current mouthful.

"Ryou, why are you staring at me like that?" Ryou blinked, breaking his thoughts on his identity crisis. He smiled apologetically at Bakura's annoyed face.

"Sorry Bakura... I was just thinking." Bakura contemplated him, a frown still on his face, before impatiently shoving the cereal bowl away from him.

"I'm not hungry anymore," he said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back in his chair. "So, what's on the agenda for today? I expect you're going to see your friend, Yugi, and that idiotic pharaoh?" Ryou glanced at the digital clock on the microwave, ignoring the insult to Yami, and saw it was almost seven.

"Maybe later," Ryou speculated. They wouldn't be up by now. "But before I do, I'm going to need to go to the store and get some things." It had been a while since Ryou had been home, really home so all the groceries and such were probably low in stock.

"The store?" asked Bakura. Ryou nodded. "Well you're going to have to get some more yogurt, we're all out." Bakura looked away, avoiding Ryou's stunned gaze.

"What do mean we're all out? Bakura, there were eight things of yogurt last night!" Ryou exclaimed.

"I was hungry," Bakura pouted. "So I happened to eat all of them." He was unapologetic in his deeds. Ryou passed a hand over his face. Calm, he had to remind himself. He was going to the store anyways; it wasn't that big of a deal.

"Okay, then," he said in a strained voice. "Is there anything else you can think of that we might need?" Bakura shrugged his shoulders, a small and uncaring movement.

"How should I know? You know more about being human than I do." Ryou sighed, suppressing his annoyance but knowing he was right about that

"I suppose I'd better make a list then," Ryou sighed, feeling a faint trace of his headache coming back. He looked around the room for paper and a writing utensil. He stood up and searched one of the drawers for some. In a short amount of time, he pulled out a small notebook he used for making lists and a pen. He sat back down at the kitchen table and began making out a list. After a few minutes of writing, the list said:

**Yogurt  
Milk  
Cereal  
Eggs  
Peanut Butter  
Bread  
Toothpaste**

Seven simple things. Ryou glanced up form his list to see Bakura leaning over the table, scowling at the list.

"Peanut butter?" he asked in disbelief. Ryou hesitated, unsure of what was wrong with peanut butter.

"Uh… yeah?" he said uncertainly. "Why?" Bakura sat back in his chair, glaring at Ryou.

"I'm allergic to peanut butter," he said flatly. Ryou cocked an eyebrow.

"How can you know if you're allergic to peanut butter? You've never had it! And I seriously doubt that the ancient Egyptians had it." Bakura made no reply, seeing it was fit to ignore Ryou and grumble to himself while glaring daggers at the kitchen tabletop. Ryou stared at the yami hopelessly and stood back up again, scratching the nape of his neck in discomfort.

"Look," he said slowly. "I'm going upstairs to get ready. You can either come with me or not. It's up to you." Even though Bakura annoyed him half to death, Ryou secretly wanted him to come. That way if he did, he wouldn't have to worry about Bakura trashing the house…

And NO, he was NOT gay.

At least, he didn't think so.

Bakura continued not to look at Ryou but answered him anyways.

"I would come but I have nothing to wear." And suddenly, he was smirking. But Ryou realized that the crumpled clothing he was wearing were the same ones from last night, striped T-shirt and jeans. But then again, Ryou was wearing the same thing, not bothering to change into pajamas before he went to bed.

"Well, I _guess_ you could borrow some of my clothes because I'm pretty sure we're the same size-"

"We're not the same size!" Bakura suddenly exclaimed, finally looking at him. "I'm taller than you!" Ryou's eyes widened in incredulity.

"Taller than me?! Only because your hair is like ten times poofier than mine!" Ryou shot back. Bakura jumped to his feet in a flash, jabbing his finger at Ryou.

"Poofier? That's not even a word you fool! And where do you even get off insulting my hair like that?!" Ryou felt his skin flush as his temper began to flare dangerously.

"Well where do you get off acting like a spoiled brat in _my _house? You-"

"Oh please," Bakura dismissed, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms. "Don't tell me you're as sensitive as a girl. You're like, what, a teenager now? Aren't you suppose to be mature and all that adult development stuff?" Ryou's hands balled into fists.

"You're the one who's five thousand years old! Do you think you could try and not act like a petulant child? I gave up my bed, allowed you to eat all my yogurt, and put up with your constant complaining! Not to mention I allowed you to stay in my house even after you've taken control over my life for the past four years!"

"Okay, so now you're taking this way too personally-"

"Yeah I am! So if you don't like it, you can just leave!"

The words were out of Ryou's mouth before he could help it. He didn't _mean_ to be quite so… rude. But, quite frankly, he had had enough of Bakura's mouth.

Bakura's eyes widened and for the first time ever, Ryou could swear that he might have detected a hint of fear. Because, as he had concluded last night, where did Bakura have to go? Nowhere. And now Ryou was kicking him out. Ryou might have taken it back but, for the moment, he was too angered to care about Bakura's feelings.

And then Bakura's eyes narrowed back down to their normal angular shape. And it made him look terrifyingly angry. It was all Ryou could do not to lose his severe countenance.

"Maybe I will," he sneered, taking a step back.

"Then leave! And don't come back until you've given me a sincere apology for your actions!" That might have been taking it a bit far because, seriously, asking Bakura to apologize?

"Who said I wanted to come back?" Bakura lashed out, turning around and stalking out of the kitchen. Ryou followed him into the living room.

"Then don't," Ryou grumbled, just audible enough for Bakura to hear. The yami had his hand on the door knob, turned it, and flung the door open angrily.

"Good bye, hikari," he said over his shoulder as he stepped out into the freezing December outdoors, barefoot and in his thin, weather-permeable clothes.

"Good bye, yami," Ryou called out, his voice as cold at the air outside, before closing the door and returning to the kitchen.

* * *

Oh boy, I can just imagine that a lot of people hate me right about now. And I'll go ahead and say it, Bakura does come back, in the next chapter even so please do not fret needlessly about it.

And don't think too much about the whole thing of Bakura being allergic to peanut butter. He just said that to be annoying.

Please review and I shall try and get next chapter up sooner!

~Nuit Songeur


	3. A Complaint

**A/N: **I know it's way shorter than the first few chapters but I tried getting it out there so I can at least say I've updated this.

**Warnings:** Slight profanity.

* * *

Who did he think he was? That impudent, ungrateful hikari! Throwing him out of the house like that! And over what? Just because Bakura had said he was taller than Ryou! Seriously, Ryou had his times where he could get just too emotional for his own good. No wonder his friends were always ditching him, never remembering him. As if Téa wasn't enough of a female in their little group.

Bakura angrily huffed a flyaway strand of hair that was starting to get on his nerves.

And what did Ryou know anything about maturity? Ryou, the guy who thrown him out of the house just because he was taller! It was unbelievable, inconceivable! What was the problem with him anyway? Blown a small jibe completely out of proportion! Calling _him_, Bakura, immature? It was Ryou who was immature, especially after that little stunt.

Bakura crossed his arms as his numb feet continued to crunch through the small blanket of snow that covered Domino city. A gust of wind blew, chilling Bakura to the bone and making him wrap his arms more tightly around him.

How Bakura hated having a mortal body! It had so many needs to tend to: hunger, protection from the environment. It was quite tiresome and trivial to tend to all these senses. If only he were an immortal spirit again _inside_ a mortal body then these feelings would be numbed down to the point where he felt as though they didn't exist. When he had Ryou's body through the course of the years, he remembered to eat, only because he knew that he needed food to sustain the body. He didn't actually ever _feel_ what hunger was supposed to felt like.

Well, he wasn't an immortal spirit anymore. Not an overlord of the Shadow Realm anymore. He was Bakura, just Bakura, the stupid mortal who was now insignificant in the passage of time.

He absolutely loathed that idea.

Bakura didn't know exactly where he was going but suddenly he found himself in front of a game shop. Yugi's grandfather's shop. He scowled at it. How quaint- an evil mastermind come to seek the help of the pharaoh, his immortal adversary.

_What the hell?_ he thought, stepping up to the front door. The pharaoh was mortal now, anyways and besides, he had no where else to go. A fact that Ryou knew damn well of.

Bakura banged loudly on the door three times, and waited. It wasn't long before it opened with a small jingling and revealed Solomon Mutou in the doorway. He looked at Bakura's freezing frame quizzically for a moment before he said anything.

"Hello, can I help you?" he asked uncertainly. Bakura had to make sure he bit back his pride before replying.

"Do you mind… if I… stay awhile?" His last two words were only a small mumble but Yugi's grandfather seemed to catch his meaning.

"Weren't you staying with Ryou?"

"I was." Grandpa Mutou waited for further description as to why but Bakura refused to go into elaboration, saving both his pride and Ryou's. Ryou better thank him for this.

"Grandpa?" said a small, sleepy voice from the depths of the game shop. "What's going on? Who are you talking to?" Grandpa Mutou's body shifted slightly and allowed Bakura to look into the game shop, seeing Yugi stand a way back from the doorway, rubbing his eyes and blinking.

But, at the sight of Bakura, Yugi stopped blinking and his eyes widened in confusion.

"Bakura needs a place to stay," Grandpa Mutou explained.

"But I thought he was staying with Ryou," he said.

"Well that's what you get for making an entirely incorrect assumption. Next thing you know, you could assume that you're going to hang out with your friends tomorrow when actually the world could very well end tonight," Bakura snapped. To his satisfaction, the brat's eyes lit with fear. Serves him right for assuming things….

"Bakura, mind your manners!" Grandpa Mutou reprimanded.

"You're wasting your breath Grandpa," said a deeper, more ancient voice from behind Yugi. "Bakura hasn't learned manners in five thousand years and I seriously doubt he's going to anytime soon." The owner of this voice stepped away from the dark shadows of the room and came to stand beside his hikari and placed a hand on Yugi's shoulder.

_Such a protective yami,_ Bakura scoffed inside his head.

"If you mind," Bakura cut across sharply. "I would like to stop discussing about my manners for the moment." The pharaoh's amethyst eyes, so much like Yugi's, gleamed apprehensively. He didn't trust him, as he shouldn't.

"Why are you here Bakura?" the pharaoh snapped. Bakura sighed in annoyance; he really hated repeating himself and this would be the third time someone asked him that. And in less than five minutes!

"I've already answered that question, pharaoh. Maybe if you weren't so busy throwing insults, you would be able to listen for a change."

"Bakura needs a place to stay," Grandpa Mutou repeated again. The pharaoh's eyes widened slightly.

"But I thought he was staying-"

"Yes, we've already made that point. Twice already. No, I am currently not staying with Ryou at the moment. And if it doesn't bother any of you, I would like to come inside because my feet are freezing!" Bakura snapped, angry with them and himself. Just look at what he was reduced to- begging at the feet of the pharaoh? He had surely lost all dignity now.

All three looked simultaneously at his pale feet sticking out from underneath the damp jeans he was wearing.

"Why Bakura! Your feet are bare!" Grandpa Mutou exclaimed in surprise. Bakura sighed, quickly losing his patience.

"Obviously."

"Why didn't you put on some shoes before you came?" the pharaoh asked, seeming to be perfectly content to leave him outside in the bitter cold weather.

"I think I left them at the Shadow Realm when I was brought back into this world." Bakura had meant to be sarcastic, he really did. However, his usually expressionless face remained neutral, making the three before him cringe away from Bakura in fear.

"I'm only joking!" he barked at them angrily. "May I please come in now?"

And it was official, Bakura had no dignity left when forced to say _please._

Grandpa Mutou nodded vigorously and ushered him into the game shop with all haste. And with a grunted thanks, Bakura stepped inside. As soon as his bare feet touched the tiled floor, he suddenly realized just how exactly numb and cold they were. He tried not showing his discomfort to any of them but, to his annoyance, a small grimace touched his face and when he looked up saw that Yami was grinning superciliously at him. Bakura angled his eyes at the pharaoh but said nothing as Grandpa Mutou led him into the carpeted living area. When they had reached the open-spaced room, he gestured toward the blue sofa.

"Please, have a seat Bakura and tell us what happened." Bakura scoffed at the old man but sat down all the same, lounging unceremoniously to suit his comfort. He stretched his arms; feeling his sore muscles from being woken up at such an early time. Thanks to Ryou.

The other three glanced at each other with puzzled expressions and, after standing awkwardly for a moment, sat down simultaneously with rigid postures. Uncomfortable, Bakura noticed with slight satisfaction, in their own homes thanks to him.

"Aren't you going to tell us what happened, Bakura?" Yugi asked curiously after a moment of the uncomfortable silence. Well, it was uncomfortable to them; Bakura was perfectly at ease.

"Well, if you must know," he said, sighing and transferring his gaze from them to inspect the wallpaper. "Ryou got upset that I was taller than he was and so he kicked me out." He could feel their stunned gapes burning into his face as his inspection moved over to the fabric of the blue sofa. He picked at the threads idly.

"No way!" Yugi gasped. "Ryou kicked you out of the house for _that_? I don't believe it." Bakura looked up to glare at the brat.

"Believe what you want. I don't really care; it makes no difference to me. But you wanted to know why so I told you. Ryou is jealous of my height and hair style. End of story." Bakura went back to picking at the frayed blue threads.

"Hair style?" Yami asked dumbly. It was a suitable adverb for him because he _was_ dumb. "How does your hair style get involved with that?" Bakura sniffed, refusing to meet him eye-to-eye.

"I don't know. You'll have to ask Ryou. He's the one that got upset over the whole thing." Yami and Yugi exchanged glances, both looking just as confused as they did before. Then the old fool of a grandfather decided to intervene.

"I'm afraid you'll have to go into elaboration for us, Bakura," he said. "We still don't exactly understand what you mean-"

"And you think I do?" Bakura snapped to the arm rest of the sofa. "I don't understand why Ryou got so mad. I just said one thing and he completely flipped without warning and kicked me out."

"Well what did you say?"

"Like I said, already old man: that I was taller than him." Bakura could see from the corner of his eye they still didn't believe him as they all three exchanged expressions of uncertainty.

"There's got to be more to it than that," Yugi persisted.

"There's nothing more to it!" Bakura yelled, looking up finally. "Unless you want to count in the fact that Ryou is a whiny baby."

"Ryou's not a whiny baby!" Yugi defended faithfully. Bakura grit his teeth and felt a growl rising in his throat.

"The hell he isn't!" Bakura roared, rising to his feet. In a flash, Yami was also on his feet, barring the path to Yugi in a protective manner.

_Such a good yami,_ Bakura's thoughts sneered.

"Bakura, just sit and calm yourself down," Yami said carefully, eyes glowing dangerously crimson.

"I am calm!" he snapped venomously. But he sat back down again, all the same, feeling a reluctant pout forming on his face. Yami continued to stand in front of Yugi, refusing to relinquish his place and forcing Yugi to peer around his side to speak to Bakura.

"Maybe we should just call Ryou and get everything sorted out," he offered. Bakura contemplated the brat with glaring eyes.

"What? Are you saying you wouldn't have an extra room to offer me if Ryou wouldn't let me back in?" Yugi's expression turned injured.

"No! That's not what I'm saying at all! I simply meant that if you and Ryou have a problem, you should work it out."

"And why should I work it out with him?"

"Because," Grandpa interjected. "I'm not going to offer you a room here unless you have a valid reason for leaving Ryou."

"I didn't leave Ryou!" Bakura exclaimed indignantly. "_He_ kicked _me_ out, remember?"

"Be that as it may," Grandpa continued simply. "You won't have a room offered here unless you really need one." Bakura sighed impatiently and slumped against the sofa.

"Fine, fine. Do whatever. I don't care either way. Call Ryou and get his precious side of the story. And while you're at it, ask him his height. I measured myself last night when I was waiting for him and I'm 5'9. Ask him if he's still 5'7."

Grandpa rolled his eyes, picked up the phone and dialed Ryou's number.

* * *

For all intends and purposes, this chapter _was_ supposed to be comprised of humor... But, when I think about it, there's humor in about every section of it. I guess it lightens up the mood. Especially compared with some of my latest stories. Which you should go read. Like, right now.

But, of course, review this first!

Nuit Songeur, out!


	4. Identity Crisis

**A/N: **Hello everyone! Sorry it took so long in getting this chapter out. A thousand apologies. If you're still reading this then you have my eternal gratitude and a promise to update more sooner than last time.

**Warnings:** Starting to slightly progress more and more into yaoi. Nothing explicit, thought. But, all the same, if you don't like yaoi then don't read. (A Note to _AirGirl Phantom_- I ask you to please bear with me- I know how you feel- I originally was not into yaoi, myself. And so, I can relate. I'm sure if you stick with this though- you might enjoy it.)  
**And-** another warning: Slightly profanity. (As with Bakura)

* * *

Ryou had already changed into a fresh set of clothes and just finished tying his shoes, ready to leave for the grocery store when the phone rang. He quickly went to answer it, taking short note that the Caller ID said it was from Yugi's grandfather's game shop. Ryou was actually surprised that Yugi would be up this early but didn't give much thought about it.

"Hello?" he said into the receiver.

"Ryou? This Yugi's grandpa," said an unmistakably old voice. Ryou blinked, confused as to why Solomon Mutou would call him.

"Yes, Mr. Mutou. This is Ryou. Was there something you needed?" he asked, trying to make sense of the call.

"Actually, Ryou a peculiar situation just came up that you might be interested in."

"And what is that?"

"Well, Bakura just arrived on our doorstep, asking to be let in and claiming that you kicked him out of the house because you were taller than him, or something to that effect." With those words, Ryou heard another voice speak out from the background. It issued out of the phone quite clearly with its loud volume.

"That's not what I said, you old buffoon!" barked Bakura's voice. "I said that he kicked me out because_ I_ was taller than _him_, not the other way around." Ryou heard Solomon Mutou sigh, as any other old man would do when dealing with short-tempered, ancient Egyptian spirits. All the while, Ryou was doing his best in trying not lose his temper again. Since Bakura had left the house, Ryou had been in peaceful mood. Never mind the nagging feeling of guilt in the back of his head. When Bakura was gone, stress was gone. But when Bakura was there, stress was there as well. It was inevitable. And yet, Bakura had to creep back into his life by bothering his friend's grandfather? And on what grounds? Saying that Ryou had kicked him out over a stupid matter like _height_? Really, Bakura was starting to act like a petulant child.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with him, Mr. Mutou," Ryou apologized. "But, I can assure you that I did not kick him out because he thinks that he's taller than me."

"But you _did_ kick him out?" Ryou hesitated, thinking that he had already made that much obvious already.

"Well, yeah-"

"Why, Ryou? Don't you think that was a bit harsh, considering you knew Bakura had no where to go? And you even made him go leave barefoot when it's cold outside."

"Yes, it was quite harsh," agreed Bakura's voice from the background. Ryou's hand, that seemed to be suddenly balled into a tight fist, was shaking with frustration. Why was he putting the blame on _him_?

"I didn't make him leave the house barefoot," Ryou said, defending himself. "He could have put shoes on himself if had the brains to do it."

"Ryou, you know Bakura doesn't know very much of our world. He wouldn't know that he would have needed shoes." Ryou was speechless, momentarily stunned at why Solomon Mutou would stick up for the evil spirit who tried destroying the world- twice.

"I didn't think about it when I kicked him out," Ryou said, trying not yell with his newfound temper. What was wrong with him today? He usually wasn't so easily upset. Was it because lack of proper sleep?

"Well, why did you kick him out in the first place?"

"Because," Ryou said, starting to become red in the face. "He was complaining about _everything_ and he wouldn't do anything for himself-"

"He's a spirit who hasn't had a human body to himself before. Of course he wouldn't know how to do anything for himself."

"It's not that he didn't know, it was because he was too lazy-"

"Ryou, don't you think you're acting a little immature about the whole thing?" Solomon asked.

"Yeah, immature!" came the peanut gallery of Bakura.

And then, Ryou couldn't help it. He blew up again, for the second time that morning. And at Yugi's grandfather, no less.

"I'm sorry for not wanting to house a five-thousand year-old ancient Egyptian spirit who tried to take over the world, acts like a petulant child, and not to mention took over my body and mind for the past four years! If it bothers you so much, I'll be by later to pick him up if babysitting him is too much of a job for you!" And then, with a press of a button, he hang up the phone.

He stood in the middle of the living room, panting heavily, chest rising and falling as his ears thudded with a boiling anger. After a few minutes, he sighed, placing the phone back on the side table that stood next to the couch.

He felt guilty, extremely guilty now for yelling at Mr. Mutou. He would definitely be apologizing to him. Him and Yugi for leaving Bakura to wander off on his own. It definitely wasn't a good idea to kick him out. What was wrong with him? Why was he snapping so easily, small things setting off his temper with a drop of a hat? Just because he was called immature? Well, it wasn't the first time that morning; Ryou remembered Bakura calling him the same thing before he'd left.

So, what to do now? Take Bakura back? Ryou glanced at the piece of paper crumbled in his palm- the shopping list. Maybe he would go to the store before he stopped by the game shop, in order to calm down enough so he wouldn't risk yelling at anyone any more. It was the best idea he could think of. With a sigh, Ryou grabbed his jacket and his wallet that held the credit card to the bank account that his father left money for him to live by in. And shortly, he was out the door.

**-0-0-0-**

Bakura watched as he saw Grandpa Mutou wearily replace the phone back on the hook.

"I think it's safe to say that Ryou seems to be quite upset about this," he told them. Bakura did nothing to suppress his smirk.

"I told you he got bent out of shape over nothing. But that's just Ryou for you, I suppose." No one seemed to be paying any attention to him and he frowned- he was sitting right there, dammit! But before Bakura could say anything else, Yugi spoke up.

"What did Ryou say, Grandpa?" he asked. The old man sighed, pressing his temples together.

"According to Ryou, he kicked Bakura out not because of height differences but rather because Bakura was supposedly acting like a petulant child-" Bakura rose to his feet in a flash.

"Petulant child?! _He_ was the one that got ticked off because I made the comment that I was taller than him!" The other three in the room merely glanced up at his outburst and proceeded to ignore him.

"So, what now, Grandpa?"

"Well," he hesitated, tapping his chin with a thoughtful expression. "Ryou did say he would come by later to pick him up. But until then, I suppose Bakura will be staying here." Bakura frowned and crossed his arms over his chest.

He hated when the humans did this; talked about you as if you weren't standing three feet away from them. When he had been an immortal spirit of darkness, no one had _dared_ show him this amount of disrespect, as if he was just like any other insignificant and mortal being that walked this planet.

He slumped back in the chair again, not paying attention to anyone else as they conversed quietly on something about Ryou's state of mind.

But the factor still stood- he _was_ mortal, just like the other insignificant beings that walked this planet. He couldn't differentiate himself from the rest now. He was one of them. Horribly, mortally, and despicably one of them.

Bakura gave a growl of dissatisfaction. What was this? _This_, these feelings of complete loathing, coming from him? It wasn't him. It couldn't be. No, these were the feelings of resentment, the feelings of being disgracefully human. How pathetic.

"Bakura doesn't look too happy," noted Yami, breaking Bakura away from his identity crisis. The former immortal evil spirit turned his attention to the former pharaoh, unleashing a disgruntled glare. And then, feeling a profound urge to vent, began to speak rapidly.

"You call me that- Bakura. You all do. But is that really my name? Who am I? Just an ancient spirit that resided in an old piece of enchanted jewelry that took over the life of the person that originally bore that name. At least, that _was_ me. Now, I'm just some God forsaken mortal who doesn't even have a name, a proper name to say the least. You look at me and you think 'Bakura.' But that's Ryou's name, not mine. When you see me, you don't think of that unbearably hideous creature you saw in the memory world. I was known as Zorc Necrophidius, Lord of Shadows, Master of Darkness. But, who am I now? I'm suppose to be _dead_! And now look at me: a pathetic human. Surely a sick joke played by some other cosmic force who has power over these types of things. Back in ancient Egypt, I played on the hatred and anger of some peasant to rise to power, used him as pawn. And now look at me! In the body of his reincarnation! I'm not human, never was. Just an evil spirit. But now I'm stuck in this pathetic body!"

And, with that, Bakura resolved to continue glaring down at the folded arms across his chest. Yugi looked from Yami to his grandfather.

"I think Bakura is upset about this whole thing as well," said the brat's voice. Bakura tried ignoring them all, his eyes set in sharp angles. But then, for some inexplicable reason, Yami felt a need to give one of his sappy life lessons to Bakura.

"Bakura, I think you need to realize something else," he said. Bakura didn't look up, just felt his frown deepen into a scowl. And, for some unexplained reason, Yami took that as an invitation to keep talking.

"I'm suppose to dead as well-" Bakura rose to his feet again, abruptly stopping him.

"Save it, pharaoh," Bakura hissed, turning his back to them. "Quite frankly, I don't care to hear your Sally-sob story." He took a step away from them, intending to go and sit by himself in the room that made up the game shop.

"Bakura," Yami said, in a low, warning tone. "I'm only trying to help."

"Help with what, might I ask?" Bakura demanded, whirling around to face him. "Help remind me that I'm just one of you pathetic humans?" He scoffed. "As if Ryou didn't do that already."

Bakura hadn't meant to say that last statement. In a very human-like way, it slipped out with his rush of anger. And because so, his face slightly reddened. However, the others didn't seem to notice his slip-up, taking that his coloring face was a side effect of anger, rather than embarrassment. Even so, they still felt a need to bring it to attention.

"Ryou?" repeated Yugi. "What does he have to do with it?"

Bakura contemplated the miniature version of the pharaoh with somber eyes, his blush slowly disappearing. They might have _noticed_ his reference to Ryou but that didn't mean they _understood_ what it meant.

"Nothing," Bakura grumbled, dismissively waving a hand, and knowing full well he was lying. "Forget about it."

No one else had said a word after that. So Bakura felt that he was free enough to leave the room and ponder upon the complexities of his Ryou comment.

**-0-0-0-**

Ryou was dragging his feet, traversing his way to the nearest convenient store as the sharp wind bit at his pale, exposed cheeks- stinging them red.

He was racked up with guilt about yelling at Solomon Mutou. Really, he hadn't met too. This was really the first time his temper had gotten the best of him in such short amount of time. What was wrong with him? It was as if he wasn't Ryou, as if the past four years had inevitably changed him into someone that wasn't him.

Another gust of wind blew and Ryou shivered, drawing himself further into the confines of his jacket.

For the past four years, there was always the worrying suspicion of losing his mind to the ancient spirit living within him, no matter what he did with the Millennium Ring. He would always come back, always come back…

He had his life stolen from him, his adolescence taken. Someone had stolen his identity a countless number of times. And that someone was Bakura, the evil spirit who had become human while at the same time took the namesake of Ryou, his host.

Ryou didn't snap at people. Ryou didn't yell. Ryou didn't lose his temper. Ryou wasn't easily offended.

So who was he? He _was_ Ryou, wasn't he? Wasn't he? Ryou Bakura?

And, Ryou was suppose to be straight, wasn't he? But those thoughts of Bakura, those feelings for Bakura contradicted all of that. So, was he not Ryou, then? Was he just a shadow of the former Ryou? Or, was it that it had been quite some time before Ryou had his own life, not shared by a spirit, that he didn't remember who he was?

Who was Ryou?

Ryou bit his lower lip, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets, still clutching at the piece that was his shopping list.

The old Ryou made lists, shopping lists, to-do lists, lists of Christmas presents. The old Ryou had the annoying habit of waking up at unbelievably early times, no matter what the time was that he went to bed. The old Ryou ate Cocoa Puffs for breakfast, whenever he didn't feel like cooking. The old Ryou… The old Ryou would have taken in Bakura last night and even given up his bed, no matter what the ancient spirit had done to him. The old Ryou was just nice like that, selfless, caring, quiet, introverted… The list could go on.

But this new Ryou? This new Ryou caused him to yell at people, to lose his temper, and even to question his sexuality. So who was he? The old Ryou or the new Ryou? And, who exactly was this new Ryou? To have a short temper, to yell at people with no plausible reason… it sounded an awful lot like Bakura.

Ryou stopped walking and lifted his face to see that he had made it to the store. People around him bustled with shopping carts and he stared blankly at the building, thinking.

Maybe there wasn't a transition of an old Ryou and a new Ryou. Maybe he was just a Ryou that had changed. Most people did, as they grew older. Maybe it was because he hadn't been fully there to witness the change he underwent that he hadn't realized it before.

Ryou was Ryou. He was no one else and that included Bakura. It didn't matter if Bakura held the same name as he did, it didn't matter if Bakura looked almost identical to him, it didn't matter if he felt this odd _attraction_ to Bakura…

Involuntarily, Ryou's face became a slight shade of pink in response to the last thought. But, no one was around him to notice or even care. Besides, if someone did happen to witness his blush, it wasn't as if they could read his thoughts-

Ryou's face deepened in color as he realized that there _was_ someone who could read his thoughts, the same someone who currently occupied them…

Mentally, Ryou tried sensing for Bakura's presence, wondering if he had possibly listened into his thoughts. However, to Ryou's relief, he could not feel Bakura's mind within his own and he took that as a good sign.

Hurrying along, Ryou rushed inside the store, anxious to get all that he needed and to get his mind off of his yami, should Bakura start to randomly listening into his private thoughts.

* * *

Oh dear, what could happen next? Hope you enjoyed it! And, I promise, next chapter will come quicker!

Review, please!

**_-Nuit Songeur_**


	5. Careful Thoughts

**A/N:** Greetings! Sorry, again, it took me so long to update this. But, fate has thrown something very unforseen and time-consuming in my life. Please bear with me, I'm determined to complete this story (but not too soon, I assure you!)

**Warnings:** Yaoi, slight use of vulgarity. And, please forgive any careless typos- even though I edited this.

* * *

By the time Ryou walked out of the store, groceries in hand, the morning's troubles were all but gone from his mind and he was whistling cheerfully. Shopping was always a calming experience for him. To just be alone, nothing to worry about other than choosing the right brand of peanut butter, with soft music playing in the background.

When Ryou had made it across the parking lot, the peanut better issue came back to him. Earlier this morning, he remembered Bakura complaining that he was allergic to peanut butter. At the time, Ryou hadn't believed him; Ryou wasn't allergic to peanut butter, so why should Bakura be? But then again, what if Bakura _did_ happen to be allergic to peanut butter? How could you go about testing that? If Ryou's own theories were correct and Bakura's body was similar to his own, then his yami _shouldn't_ be allergic. So what, then?

Ryou sighed, clutching the brown paper bag as he shuffled along. If Bakura was allergic to peanut butter then so be it. He didn't have to eat it. But if he wasn't allergic then, well, it didn't matter to Ryou either way. And so, he pushed the trivial matter away from his mind.

The snow on the ground was still somewhat frozen. However, there were places where it had turned into mush from being trampled underfoot. And it was in these places, so well disguised to Ryou, that he managed to slosh his way through on his way to the Mutou game shop. In fact, when he finally reached Yugi's street, Ryou was shivering his wet shoes, feeling his damp socks cling to his feet. It was an uncomfortable feeling, to have his feet squish annoyingly, but he trudged on, ignoring his discomfort and focusing his mind on how to apologize to Mr. Mutou.

Before he knew it, Ryou was facing the paned glass door, peering inside and hand hesitantly hovering above the door handle. He took a deep breath, feeling a blush of shame rising to his face and went inside.

The familiar tinkling of the bell greeted Ryou's ears when the door opened and closed behind him. The main room of the game shop was dark and Ryou, looking around his onstructing paper bag, tried making his way to the nearest countertop, to set said paper bag down. His shoes squeaked as he moved and with the sound, there was shuffling in the far corner of the room. Ryou spared a glance at the shuffling shadow, figuring it was either Yugi or his grandfather and not giving a second thought to it as he relieved himself of the grocery bag.

"I'm sorry I took so long; I wasn't exactly sure which peanut butter brand to get. There's a bunch of them getting recalled nowadays or something."

_//I thought I told you that I was allergic to peanut butter.//_

Ryou jumped at the voice inside of head, making a small yelp of surprise. A yelp that seemed to echo throughout the building. At his start of surprise, the figure in the corner began laughing uncontrollably. The figure unmistakably being Bakura. Shortly thereafter, Yugi, his grandfather, and Yami were rushing in the room- probably to discover the reason for all of the commotion. In that process, someone had managed to flip a switch on, illuminating the room in a bright light that made Ryou blink away temporary blindness.

"What's going on?" Yugi asked, glancing from Bakura to Ryou in confusion. Ryou felt his face redden even more as Bakura continued to laugh at him.

"Bakura startled me and thinks it's funny," he said to Yugi, frowning slightly at the mention of Bakura. Bakura stopped his laughing momentarily, to stare at Ryou with a smirk on his face.

"I'm sorry that you don't find it as amusing as I do. But rest assured, your little yelp was fully entertaining to me." Bakura gave a few more snickers to support the statement. Ryou glared at the former ancient spirit for some short seconds before resolving to flat-out ignore him, an attempt to keep his temper in check. He turned, instead, to the Mutous and the former Egyptian pharaoh.

"I'm sorry I took so long," he repeated to them, forcing an apologetic smile to appear on his face as Ryou continued to ignore Bakura. "And, I'm sorry for losing my temper on the phone, Mr. Mutou," Ryou said, his eyes averting to the floor as his shame and embarrassment rose to his face to form yet another blush. Peeking from underneath his white bangs, Ryou saw Grandpa Mutou wave his hand dismissively.

"It's okay, Ryou. I shouldn't have been quick to accuse. I didn't know the situation upset you so much." Ryou quickly rose his face to him to deny the assumption.

"It doesn't upset me _that _much. It's just well," Ryou hesitated, trying to think of something plausible and coherent. "Well, as you probably know, I got in late last night- just like Yugi. And I woke up early this morning so… I guess I've just been a bit more moody than I usually have. Sorry." Ryou's eyes inevitably became downcast to the floor tiles once again, the volume of his voice lowering to that of a small mumble.

"It's quite all right, Ryou," Grandpa Mutou assured. "It's understandable. Your apology is accepted. But since the situation at hand seems to be… _stressful_ for you, Bakura could always stay here with us. We wouldn't mind keeping him for a while." Ryou looked up and saw Yami's expression to support the exact opposite of what Grandpa just said. But, Yami seemed to keep his tongue in check and remained silent. Yugi's bright, youthful eyes were kind- as they always were and didn't seem to be too bothered by his grandfather's offer. And then, Ryou shifted his brown-eyed gaze to Yugi's grandpa and saw that he meant every word of it. And then, Ryou suddenly found himself feeling extremely guilty.

Bakura wasn't really _that_ much of a problem. Ryou just lost his temper, that's all. Ryou could take care of Bakura, he was fully capable of doing so. Just because… Ryou hesitated in his mental thoughts.

"Really?" was all that he managed to say. Grandpa nodded.

"We talked about it after we hung up." Ryou noticed how Grandpa didn't point out that it was Ryou who had rudely hung up. "And we know that there is some tension in it for you- after all that you've experienced."

Ryou thought about that, thought about the past four years, and wondered if he really still felt any angst against Bakura for monopolizing his life. He didn't _feel_ any tension. But, because there was a lack thereof at the moment, did that mean there wasn't any, period? Ryou wasn't one to hold grudges- no matter who did what to him. It wasn't in Ryou's nature to. Ryou believed in second chances. And, not only that, but also third, fourth, and even tenth chances. Ryou was just like that, forgiving. Perhaps too forgiving for his own good. But, forgiving all the same.

And that was the old Ryou for you. Unable to hate, unable to hold grudges no matter the situation.

But, what about Bakura? Where did he want to stay? With Ryou, the human who had been his host for the past four years? The human who had regrettably kicked out of the house- forcing him to practically freeze his feet off when walking barefoot in the snow? Would Bakura want to come back to Ryou or would he want to stay with the Mutous and his old archrival- the pharaoh? Not only that, but did Ryou _want_ Bakura to come back?

Ryou blushed an even deeper scarlet red than before, realizing the direction of his thoughts and realizing that Bakura was indeed there in the room, able to hear them, if he so desired. He already used telepathy once when Ryou arrived. Who was to say he wouldn't be listening to Ryou's thoughts right now? Ryou braved a glance at his yami and saw not the snickering expression as before but rather a thoughtful, solemn expression. It was an expression similar to the tone of voice he had this morning when Ryou accidentally woke him up by means of telepathy. And Ryou was completely confused as to what the expression meant. He didn't dare try listening to Bakura's thoughts, for fear that Bakura might be listening to _his _thoughts. Ryou turned back to Yugi's grandpa, unable to force his blush away.

"I uh…um," Ryou hesitated, noticing the curious gazes of the Mutous as they probably wondered why he was blushing so fiercely. "I actually don't mind him staying with me. But I think it should be up to Bakura for him to say where he would like to live."

Grandpa nodded thoughtfully, an expression of comprehension and agreement on his face. Ryou looked to Bakura, hoping the heat of his face had even minutely subsided, and saw that Bakura was staring back him incredulously. Ryou forced a friendly smile on his own face but he was quite sure that the end result made look as though he were in pain.

_//You _do_ look like you're in pain,//_ agreed Bakura's mental voice, a hint of an amused smirk slightly marring it. Ryou only managed to look away from him, wondering how his face could become anymore red as it was. So, Bakura _was_ listening to his thoughts.

"Well, Bakura, what will it be?" Grandpa Mutou asked. "Do you want to stay with Ryou or would you rather stay here?" Ryou refused to glance up at Bakura as he felt his yam's eyes on his own face.

"Well, since Ryou has been so kind enough to let me have an opinion, I think I might rather stay with him. Besides, you seem to have a full house, Mr. Mutou, and I wouldn't want to trouble you or your grandson. Besides, I don't think I can handle living under the same roof with some pompous pharaoh anyway." Yami seemed to ignore the insult. Ryou probably figured that Yami was just glad that Bakura wouldn't be staying with them.

Ryou felt his embarrassment being replaced by annoyance as he rolled his eyes. Of course Bakura would blow it off like that- saying that he'd prefer staying with Ryou instead of Yami, his eternal enemy. What did Ryou expect, anyway? That Bakura would stay with him simply because they got along _so_ well? As if. Ryou could hear the sarcasm of that explanation already.

"You sure about this, now?" Yami asked. Ryou sensed his sarcasm as well. "I'm sure you wouldn't trouble us _that_ much." Bakura scowled at him.

"I'm not worried about troubling you. I'm more concerned about _you _troubling _me_. And I've had enough of your silly nonsense."

"Well that's good, I've had enough of your moping, Zorc Nercophidius, Lord of Shadows." Bakura only sneered at him as Ryou stood, completely confused.

"What?" he asked them. Bakura shook his head, eyes locked on a glare with Yami.

"Never mind. Let's go," he said, moving towards the door.

"Wait a moment, I almost forgot!" Ryou exclaimed, suddenly remembering his shopping bag. Every pair of eyes in the room stared at him as Ryou went to the brown paper bag. He fished around it for a moment, paper crackling, before pulling out two bulky, white objects. Shoes. He tossed them to Bakura.

"What's this?" Bakura asked, eyeing them warily.

"It's so your feet don't get frostbite. And make sure you're not stupid enough to walk out of house barefoot, again." Bakura rolled his eyes, setting the sneakers onto the ground and slipping his feet in them, not bothering to remove the tags.

"Whatever," he growled as he went to walk out the door again. The shop's bell signaled his exit. Ryou turned to the Mutous before following.

"Thanks for keeping him for a bit. And again, sorry to trouble you."

"It's no problem, Ryou," Yugi assured with a friendly smile. "I just hope you're okay about the whole thing."

"I'm okay, don't worry. Goodbye, everyone." The three others gave their own goodbyes and, shopping bag in hand, Ryou left the game shop and stepped out into the cold day, shoes squishing on the pavement yet again. Bakura was a few steps ahead, waiting on him. Though, none too patiently as he crossed his arms and resolved to glare profusely as Ryou hurried along.

They walked, side-by-side, in silence, neither saying a word for most of the way. Ryou was careful with his thoughts in Bakura's presence, checking to make sure they wonder off too blindly. But, as his legs carried him toward the house, Ryou couldn't help but notice what occupied his thoughts was his own exhaustion. Despite this, Bakura found it necessary to bring Ryou's thoughts to attention, once they were but a few short blocks away from the house.

"You're hiding something," he said. Ryou sighed, feeling the grocery bag become inexplicably heavier and heavier in his arms.

"And what's that?" he asked casually, trying not to sound too defensive or suspicious. Bakura merely shrugged, as if Ryou's personal thoughts were of no importance.

_//You tell me.//_

Ryou inevitably gave another start of surprise, jumping at the sound of Bakura's mental voice inside his head. Bakura chuckled but, unlike before, kept his laughter in check. When the initial shock of the mental contact wore off of Ryou, he glared at Bakura.

"Don't do that," he said. Bakura continued to smirk.

"Do what?"

"That! Speak inside my head! And, for that matter, stay out of my thoughts! I don't know what it's like from where you come from but here, it's called an invasion of privacy." Bakura shrugged, boredom etched on his face, and resumed walking.

"Yugi and the pharaoh don't think it's an invasion of privacy. They do it all the time." Ryou hurried after him.

"Well yeah, but that's different. Yugi and Yami actually trust each other with their own thoughts."

"And what? You don't trust me?"

"Well, let's see here- considering you controlled my mind and body for the past four years in order to destroy the world."

"I take it as a no."

"Well, it's nothing _personal_," Ryou said, allowing a touch of sarcasm to show through his voice. "But, quite frankly, I don't trust you." As he said this, Ryou watched Bakura's face carefully, waiting for any change in his features or a sign of anger. To his surprise, the only change was a slight twitch of his mouth. And nothing more. Not even an explosion of anger.

"Can't really blame you," Bakura simply said. "I'm not suppose to be trusted, period. So, how can you expect me to stay out of your thoughts if you can't trust me?"

"I don't," Ryou said looking down at the paper bag. "I just thought I should ask so there's no misconceptions later on what I say."

"Fine, fine, no misconceptions," Bakura said impatiently, his voice trailing off into a small mutter. Ryou looked back up to him. "But, all the same, you're still hiding something."

"What makes you say that?" Bakura glanced down at him, and Ryou realized that Bakura _was_ taller than him.

"You're face is still slightly red," he noted. "Ryou doesn't usually blush for no reason, even if he's angry." Ryou bit his lower lip, avoiding Bakura's piercing gaze, and was content to remain silent as they approached the house.

They walked up to the doorstep, Ryou going first since he was the one who had the house key. He fiddled with the lock momentarily until it gave a satisfying _click_, signaling that it was unlocked, and pushed the door open.

_//So I was right. You _are_ hiding something.//_

And Ryou jumped in surprise, yet again. However, he tried quickly disguising it as he whirled toward Bakura in what he hoped seemed to be an angry fashion.

"I said don't do that!" Ryou snapped. Bakura shrugged, edging past him to go into the house.

"Force of habit," he merely explained. Ryou rolled his eyes as he closed the door shut behind them and followed Bakura inside. Once inside, he walked through the living room and entered the kitchen to set his bag down on the wooden table. After he did so, Ryou turned to see Bakura leaning against the door frame and staring at him with an expression of full concentration. And then, thinking back to Yami's Zorc comment, Ryou decided to ask him a question.

"Bakura?" he said tentatively. Bakura continued to stare at him and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What is it?" he asked, almost snapping at Ryou.

"I was wondering…" he paused, glancing at Bakura as he turned slightly, to gauge his reaction. Bakura said nothing so Ryou continued. "If you had the choice, would you go back and be Zorc again? You know, and try to destroy the world again?"

Bakura continued to stare at Ryou relentlessly, silently. Ryou waited patiently for a few minutes, waiting to see if Bakura would answer. However, as the seconds ticked by, it seemed as if Bakura was no more than stone as he stood still, unmoving, and would not comply to answer the question. Thinking as such, Ryou turned away from him to put away the groceries. And it wasn't until Ryou was putting the last item away- the peanut butter- did Bakura finally speak.

"Ask me that again when I know what the hell is going on." Ryou turned to stare at Bakura, almost forgetting he had asked the question. Bakura continued to stare at him and Ryou sensed a hint of Bakura's ancient side, the mature side.

"What do you mean, Bakura?" Ryou asked. The yami shifted at the name, as if in discomfort, and asked his own question.

"Why do you call me that?" Ryou blinked.

"What? Bakura? Do you not like being called Bakura?" Bakura just stared at him for another few moments before, finally, looking away.

"Never mind," he mumbled, shrugging off of the door frame. "It's nothing." He glanced up at the kitchen ceiling. "I think I'm going to go upstairs and watch television." Ryou stared at him blankly.

"Okay," he said. "Have fun?" Bakura nodded and, without a second look at Ryou, left the room and climbed upstairs towards Ryou's room. At the thought of Ryou's bedroom, Ryou's exhaustion came back to him in a single, staggering second. He yawned, throwing the empty paper sack away.

He was going to lay down, just for a few short minutes. Maybe take just a small nap…

He left the kitchen, dragging his feet toward the living room and sat down on the blue sofa. Before Ryou could register it, he was suddenly lying on his side, in a customary fetal position, and was closing his heavy eyelids. It was just a small nap…

_Sleep well, hikari,_ was the last thing that ran through Ryou's mind before he drifted off to sleep.

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Hmm... What's to happen next? Please review and I'll try to get in the next chapter. And, even though I don't reply to everyone's reviews, I appreciate all of them!

**_-Nuit Songeur_**


	6. The Uninvited

**A/N:** Alas- my existence still thrives! First- I would like to apologize so much for the almost one-year hiatus I'd inadvertently put this story one. I've had several things crop up in real life that's forced me to put this on hold. And, I hope to any of my readers that haven't died out there may forgive me. Since, the last time I've updated this story, I've had my laptop crash and with inaccessibility to Internet or a computer. While I had that problem going, my grandmother became involved in a horrible accident. She stayed hospitalized over the summer for about two months. She'd been steadily getting better but then, once they transferred her to a more location-friendly hospital, somewhere along the transport, her heart stopped and caused irreparable brain damage. So, the plug was pulled and she has been no longer with us since July 18th. After that, I'd been thrust into the brutal and time-consuming world of marching band, subsequently followed by an extremely busy first semester of my junior year in high school. But now I'm back, and I hope that to my readers, you still enjoy reading this story and will remain faithful to it as such as I hope to update it more frequently.

**Warnings:** Typos, definitely (as always). And, not really much shounen-ai references in this chapter. It's more of a bridge chapter I suppose, getting to one point to another.

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"But I don't _want_ to. So why should I?" Bakura continued to protest. Ryou gave a patient sigh, surprised that he wasn't losing his temper yet, as he did so easily lately, and held out the large, white plastic bag even further away from him.

"Because," Ryou said, for what was the third time. "If you're living in this house, you need to learn to do chores. I can't do everything around here. It's just impossible. You need to help out too. Besides, taking out the trash isn't that hard and most of the trash in there belongs to you." It was true. This was the second day Bakura had been there and already he managed to eat so much for his tiny frame. Ryou even needed to make a second shopping trip sometime soon. Bakura scowled at the smelly trash bag Ryou was offering him, wrinkling his nose in disgust. He gave an annoyed sigh.

"So what exactly do I do with it again?"

"You take it outside and put it in the dumpster across the street. And then when you come back, you put a new bag in the trash can."

"Do I have to do it again later?" Ryou nodded.

"Every time you see it full, take the bag out, tie it off, and take it to the dumpster. See? Not that hard." Bakura scoffed.

"And what if I mess up on something?"

"You won't."

"What if I meet other humans?" Ryou shrugged.

"Then say hi or something if they talk to you. It's not that big of a deal." Bakura rolled his eyes and grabbed the bag from Ryou's grasp, slung it over his shoulder, and stalked out of the kitchen. Ryou listened until he heard the front door open and close before he hurried into the living to watch Bakura through the front window.

Bakura seemed to do fine, a little nervous maybe as his head darted around, as if he were watching out for other people. But, to what seemed to be Bakura's relief, there was nobody else out roaming around. So, after Bakura quickly crossed the street, he tossed the bag into the dumpster and made a beeline back for the house, as fast as his power walk would carry him. Soon, he had made it back inside, closing the front door behind him as if with a sigh of relief. Ryou arched an eyebrow quizzically at him but Bakura's expression remained neutral with only a slight hint of surprise to Ryou's expression.

"What? What is it?" he asked, frustrated. Ryou shook his head.

"Nothing. Now finish your chore."

"What's there to finish? I took the garbage out, just like you told me!" Ryou sighed.

"Never mind, I'll do it," Ryou mumbled, making his way back to the kitchen to put a new bag in the garbage can. Bakura followed him silently and watched as Ryou put in a new bag. When Ryou had finished, he turned around to see Bakura staring at him intently. Or, maybe not exactly at him, just staring at his direction, thinking hard about something.

"Bakura?" Ryou said tentatively. At the sound of his voice, Bakura blinked, as if coming back to the present, and seemed to look at Ryou for the first time. Bakura paused a moment before speaking.

"What's Christmas?" he blurted out suddenly. Ryou blinked at him for a moment, wondering where the question had come from.

"Well," Ryou said hesitantly. "Christmas is a time of year that a lot of people like to celebrate. For those who worship Christianity, it's a time to recognize the birth of Jesus-"

"Jesus?"

"Um, the son of a higher power they worship. He came down to Earth to save everyone of their sins." Bakura scoffed at this. "Anyways," Ryou said, continuing and not wanting to go on a long religious speech. "Most people celebrate Christmas as a way to give to others. People exchange presents with each other in a way to symbolize that they care about each other." Bakura only grunted in distaste.

"Pathetic. What do mere materialistic items mean in the long run anyway?" he grumbled. Ryou could only shrug in response. "Tell me, Ryou," he said. "Do you participate in this gift-giving celebration as well?"

"Yeah, I suppose I do. Why? Where did that question come from?" Bakura shrugged himself off the door frame.

"I watch those television commercials talking about it all the time lately," he said, turning around until he had his back to Ryou, as if he were about to exit the room.

"Where are you going?" Ryou asked, halting him in his steps. Bakura simply graced him with a glance over his shoulder.

"Upstairs, to watch some more television. It's not like there's anything else to do around here." Ryou shot an eyebrow up at him.

"Well come on, then," he said. "Let's do something; you need to get out of the house every now and then." At this, Bakura spun around and faced him completely.

"What do you mean I need to get out of the house every now and then? I've only been here two days!"

"Be that as it may," Ryou mused. "It wouldn't hurt you to stop watching TV. It's not good for you." Bakura sighed impatiently.

"So, what do you propose we do then, hikari?" Bakura asked, inexplicably annoyed at the prospect of leaving the house.

"We could go to the park-"

"And what, pray tell, does the park have to offer us?" Ryou casually shrugged.

"Fresh air."

"I have enough air!" Bakura snapped, starting to turn away from him. Ryou sighed helplessly.

"Bakura, wait just a-"

"_Stop calling me that!_" Bakura thundered unexpectedly, whirling around to face Ryou who was stupefied into utter bewilderment. He caught himself gaping at the ancient spirit.

"What do you mean?"

"Bakura is _your _name. Not mine," he hissed.

"Okay," Ryou mused. "What_ is_ your name?" Bakura emitted a low, guttural growl that seem to emanate from his throat. For a moment, Ryou was quite literally terrified of the yami standing before him and wished he hadn't spoken so carelessly. But shortly thereafter, Bakura appeared to physically calm down enough to where he lost his threatening countenance and smoothly rotated on his heel, once again turning his back to Ryou.

"Never mind," he said softly. "Just forget about it." He made a movement toward the staircase but Ryou quickly called out to him, stopping Bakura in his tracks.

"Wait!" he exclaimed. The other froze. "Where do you think you're going?" The yami's foot, which had been outstretched, poised for taking a step, was slowly pulled back to meet with the other- the opposite- foot.

"I thought I already made that quite obvious," Bakura sniffed, without turning to Ryou.

"You mean to tell me that you're just going to go upstairs and watch TV?" Ryou asked him, rhetorically since he already knew the answer to it. Bakura frowned.

"I believe that is what I have implied." Ryou sighed.

"That seems rather boring and unfulfilling." Bakura lashed out.

"Well if _you_ have anything better in mind, by all means- DON'T let me know. I've lost all purpose in my existence. My mortal life was supposed to have ended, thousands of years ago. I have nothing to 'live' for now. "

"You mean your original purpose for existing was just to destroy all of mankind while you sat on some throne as King of Nothingness? That's nothing to live for."

"I have no patience for your ignorant blabbering. My original conquest was none of your concern."

"Sounds a bit cliché to me." Bakura rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. I'll be upstairs if you need me." Once more, he made a movement to turn around.

"Hang on a second!" Ryou said, stopping him in his tracks again. "I meant it- why don't we go do something today? Get out of the house. Maybe go for a walk, visit some friends." Bakura's eyebrows twitched.

"You mean _your_ friends. No offense or anything but I don't really think they would be so apt to consider me as a 'friend' after I almost killed them on the several occasions."

"That was when you were evil," Ryou said, disregarding the past. Bakura cocked an eyebrow.

"Who's to say that I'm not evil now?" Ryou shrugged, somewhat indifferently.

"Well, you're mortal now. Before you weren't, had no reason to fear any such retribution for your actions."

Bakura said nothing, preferring to remain silent and stare at his other half evenly, a hint of a malignant edge hidden within his amber eyes. He was reluctant to leave the house and be forced to be… _socialized._

"Don't give me that look," Ryou said, feigning offense when really he found it to be slightly amusing. "Come on, get your shoes on. We're going to visit Yugi." Bakura's eyes narrowed even more into smaller slits.

"What? You're going to take me to see that insolent _pharaoh_," he hissed out Yami's title. Ryou raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose so since he lives with Yugi," Ryou said slowly. "Why? Is it going to kill you to bury a five thousand year-old rivalry between someone who's already over it?" Bakura scowled at him.

"I can't expect someone as young and ignorant as yourself to understand something as vast and complex as this." Ryou found himself rolling his eyes.

"And I suppose I shouldn't expect you to have any once of maturity about this." Ryou sighed, "If you really feel that much contempt for Yami, then just ignore him." Bakura contemplated Ryou for a moment, his eyes wary and his expression calculating. Ryou waited for several long minutes before he received any form of response.

"Fine," was the only thing Bakura managed to growl out between his tight lips as he swiftly turned away from him and hurried upstairs to retrieve his shoes. Ryou smiled to himself and went into the living room and to the coat rack where his winter jacket was hanging off a hook. He picked it up and shrugged his arms into it and waited for Bakura. Within a few short minutes, he was bounding down the stairs, wearing the shoes with the laces promptly untied. Without sparing a glance toward the coat rack, he simply headed toward the door. Ryou stopped him once again with another exclamation.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Bakura froze, throwing Ryou a perplexed expression.

"What? What is it?" he asked gruffly.

"Don't you think you should wear a jacket? It's pretty cold outside." Upon Ryou's words, Bakura rubbed friction into his upper arms as if realizing that it _was_ cold when he went outside earlier to take the trash out. Ryou figured that he was still unused to the mortal feelings he now had, such as the feeling of heat or, rather, a lack thereof.

"I don't have a jacket," Bakura said tonelessly. Ryou sighed and picked one of his older, more tighter-fitting ones from the rack.

"You can borrow one of mine." He held it out for Bakura who only looked at the proffered article of clothing with a hint of disdain. However, he snatched it away from Ryou and pulled it on anyways. Once he had it on, he twisted his torso this way and that to examine how it looked on him. The scowl on his face only deepened.

"It's tight," he complained. "And I look absolutely ridiculous." He wobbled his arms back and forth to evince the statement as the thick material of the heavy coat prevented him from lowering his arms all the way down to his sides.

"It's going to have to do for now, I'm afraid," Ryou told him quietly. "I'll get you a new one once Dad puts more money into the account." Bakura quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Account?"

"Yeah. The one my dad puts money into for me to live on. Last time I checked the balance, there wasn't a very large amount in there." Bakura replied with nothing other than the blank stare on his face. He turned away from Ryou and toward the front door, quickly opening it and marching outside with what dignity he could muster. Ryou silently followed him, locking the front door before closing it. And off they went, trekking first down the driveway and then turning right onto the street.

The day was colder than the previous one, a fresh blanket of snow covering the last layer and encroaching on the street's pavement. The street itself had interval spots of where ice had frozen over. Ryou, who had seen them before, knew when and where to dodge such icy sheets so as to not lose his balance. Bakura, however, was not as experienced in such a field as he carelessly stepped on one, his foot instantaneously slipping, and then fell, the breath completely knocked out of him. He sat, blinking, on the cold, wet pavement. After the moment's initial shock, he squeezed his eyes shut and growled.

"_Ryou!_" he said. "Why did you not warn me of the ice?" Ryou, suppressing a laugh from Bakura's earlier expression, stretched out a helping hand toward him.

"I didn't know I had to," Ryou explained, somewhat apologetically. Bakura simply glared at him and roughly got back on his feet, ignoring the presented hand. He swayed dangerously for a few moments, to which he flailed his arms out wildly to reassure his balance. Ryou found himself biting back another chuckle. Though, once Bakura was sure of his steady feet, Ryou saw that Bakura was not oblivious to Ryou's obviously amused state. He stalked off the road, opting to walk through the snow rather than the ice-dotted street. Ryou let him and they set off once more in silence, a more of a tensed and angry silence coming from Bakura and a somewhat pleasant, ease-filled one from Ryou.

As they walked, Ryou's thoughts drifted off aimlessly, from one subject to the next. Every now and then he would reawaken himself to reality and glance over to Bakura. And, always, Bakura would have his forceful eyes trained on the ground before him. Ryou wondered why he was in such a bad mood. Did seeing Yami really upset him that much? And then Ryou thought of the mind link he shared with Bakura. Maybe he could find out with that but, then again, Ryou was unsure of how to properly use it, to read the general thoughts of Bakura rather than ensuing actual contact with him- something Bakura would often do.

Concentrating all his attention on his thoughts, Ryou tried it. He reached out with his consciousness and tried feeling around, mentally, for Bakura but all he was met with was silence. Frowning slightly, Ryou tried again, putting what he thought was a bit more effort into reading the mind link but still to no avail. He tried listening around instead but all he heard was the white noise of the day: his footsteps on the pavement, the somewhat labored breathing of Bakura, some kids squealing in the distance, the sharp wind periodically rushing past them.

_//You're doing it wrong,//_ came a sudden voice within his own head. Bakura's voice. Ryou jumped in surprise and Bakura, unlike Ryou, did nothing to suppress his amusement as he roared with laughter. Ryou felt his face redden with indignation and continued hurrying on.

"Doing what wrong?" Ryou asked aloud.

_//You know what,//_ Bakura answered mentally. His mental voice seemed to ring with mirth as well.

"I think I asked you to stop doing that," Ryou snapped to him.

_//Doing what?//_

"You know what."

_//Well _you_ were trying to pry into _my_ thoughts first. I thought it only fair since you initiated the first act of the invasion of privacy.//_

"I wasn't invading your privacy. I was just trying to test out this mind link thing, that's all," Ryou defended nonchalantly.

_//Of course you were,//_ responded Bakura, sarcastically.

Ryou only shook his head and sighed. It somewhat surprised Ryou that, once he looked up, they were already at the Mutou game shop, just up ahead. He glanced over at Bakura and found him to be smirking, rather deviously. Ryou gave him a questioning gaze.

He answered with: "Time flies when you're invading the thoughts of other people." Ryou decided not to respond which made Bakura say, "You know that's what you were doing." Ryou continued ignoring him as he stepped up to the front entrance and opened it. The small door bell chimed at their entry and the two eagerly stepped inside, quickly closing the door behind them to ward off the cold. Solomon Mutou was behind the counter, wiping down the glass counter tops with a cloth. He looked up at them and a warm smile touched his lips.

"Ryou, Bakura! Nice to see you here." He paused, smile disappearing momentarily. "You didn't run into anymore problems, did you?" Ryou quickly shook his head, returning the smile.

"No, no problems at all," Ryou assured. "We just felt like visiting." He heard Bakura scoff from behind him at the word _we_. "I'm sorry I didn't call beforehand. It was more of an impulse decision type thing." Grandpa Mutou's smile returned as he put up a hand.

"It's quite all right, Ryou. I think Yugi and Yami are upstairs in his room." Ryou nodded and, at Grandpa's suggestion, went upstairs of the game shop, heading toward Yugi's bedroom and sensing Bakura following behind him. When he got to the correct door, he knocked first and waited for Yugi response before entering.

"Come in," came the cheery invitation. Ryou turned the knob and went inside, seeing Yugi look up at him, and smiled. He was sitting on his bed and Yami was sitting on Yugi's desk chair. There was a small makeshift bed made of blankets in the corner of the room. Ryou guessed that was where Yami slept- since he knew Yami wouldn't have made Yugi give up his bed- and ventured further into the room. He glanced over his shoulder to see Bakura awkwardly lingering in the doorway.

"Hey, Yugi. Bakura and I decided to stop by for a small visit. I hope you don't mind."

"It's fine," Yugi said, beaming up at his friend. He pat the space on the bed beside him, motioning him to sit. Ryou took the gesture and sat down. Then, everyone's gaze turned to Bakura who still remained at the doorway to the room, his body tensed and rigid. "You can come in and sit down too, Bakura." Bakura transferred his permanent glare to Yugi and only sniffed as he plopped down on the floor where he was- still at the bedroom's doorway. Yami spared him a small glance, shrugged, and returned his attention to Yugi.

"So how have you adjusted to life with your own physical body, Yami?" Ryou asked him. Yami turned to him, a more gentler expression on his face than the one he granted Bakura.

"It's a bit… different- not having Yugi's voice inside of my head all the time. Though, we still have the mind link, it allows a bit more room for privacy."

"I'm actually surprised who all knows that Yami's back now," said Yugi. "We've been back home for- what? Two or three days now? And even Kaiba knows. I'm sort of shocked that he's even accepted Yami as a separate entity from myself. You know, since he didn't believe in all the Millennium magic stuff." Ryou turned to Yugi, somewhat confused.

"How do _you_ know that Seto knows?" Ryou asked.

"Well, from his Christmas party invitation. He put 'To: Yugi and Yami Mutou.' Which reminds me, he also sent me yours to give to you." Yugi got up from the bed and went to his desk and began rummaging through the drawers until he found what he was looking for. He pulled that sheet of paper out and held it up for Ryou to see.

It was blue with a fancy, golden border printed around the edges. Large golden letters read at the top of the paper, _You are Invited… _Below that was several lines of print that detailed the place and time of the party Yugi had mentioned. Yugi crossed the room again, toward Ryou and handed him the paper and Ryou read the entire thing aloud.

"'You are invited to Kaiba Corp's fifth annual Christmas party, hosted at the Kaiba manor. Please call for reservation.'" Ryou skipped over the phone number and continued to the rest. "'Date: December 24th, Time: 6:00 - 9:00, Where: Kaiba Manor, What to Expect: food, gift-giving, and several games involving the theme of Christmas. This invitation is for: Ryou Bakura. Hope to see you there.' That sounds interesting. Are you going to go, Yugi?"

Yugi nodded. "I went last year. It was pretty fun. Kaiba doesn't really do that much partying but he invites enough people that do." He laughed. "You should come too." Before Ryou could reply, there was a loud scoff from the doorway. The three turned to see Bakura rising to his feet.

"What? No invitation for me? I'm hurt." He said this sarcastically but, Ryou thought he could sense actual hurt coming from Bakura. But, he wasn't entirely sure if he was just feigning it or just blowing it off. In any case, he seemed quite angry, especially as he turned his back toward them. "I told you Ryou, just because they're your friends doesn't make them mine. I think I'm going to step out for a while, if you don't mind."

And, with that, Bakura left the room and then his exit was shortly followed by the game shop's bell, signaling that he had left the building altogether.

_//Like I've said,// _resounded Bakura's voice within Ryou's head. _//I can't expect someone as young and ignorant as you are to understand anything of my nature.//_

* * *

This is a bit longer than my earlier chapters. BUT! I hope you've enjoyed! Please, review! And I hope to get chapter seven out sooner!

**_-NuitSongeur_**


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